8 Tips for Getting Started in Gwent

Even though many believe that Hearthstone is sitting on its iron Online CCG throne, there is hope for people who have grown tired of Blizzard’s fun but casual approach towards card games: Gwent is a new card game that has already managed to win over the likes of Lifecoach, SuperJJ and Noxious. The game also recently entered the Open Beta, so many people are excited to try it out for the first time. We talked to a few newcomers and veteran players and collected a list of things that they wished they would’ve known back when they started playing. We hope this helps you out!

1) Gwent is a Marathon, Not a Sprint

Gwent, unlike many other card games, is usually not a game where you intend to play all your resources as early as possible. There are no real Aggro decks like in Hearthstone, very few games will end with you winning both rounds. Instead, it’s all about managing those resources and getting advantages. For example, dropping the first round might feel weird, but if it guarantees you a card advantage of two cards or more, it might be the perfectly correct thing to do.

In general, you want to try to have more cards in hand than your opponent, which should then result in you being able to play the last cards in a game. This can be decisive for reactionary cards such as Geralt: Igni, a character you’ll get to meet quite often.

2) Look for Content Creators to explain stuff to you

Learning the basic by trial and error is a method that certainly works but it costs time and might lead to frustrating moments while playing. Spending as little as half an hour to a few hours of watching some tutorials can do wonders, however! Websites and Youtube channels are the perfect way to get a basic grasp of what the different factions and their archetypes are about.

My personal recommendations: MegaMogwai and Merchant. Both of them explain each deck they play to great detail, so if you’re switching over from Hearthstone and are looking for a Kripparian-like figure, these two content creators will do the trick. Highly recommend!

3) Feel free to netdeck

Netdecking is kind of frowned upon within the communities of card games, but it’s a very easy and simple way to get some early success. This tends to motivate people to play more, which subsequently teaches them passively about the game.

Netdecking also opens your eyes about some basic principles that you might not have thought about before, such as playing spies that give your opponent 11 power on board but give you a card advantage in return – something that especially new players look at like it’s a bad thing.

4) Play the Tutorials

This should be a given, but the tutorials exist for a reason. Each of them showcases class-exclusive cards and mechanics that you will have to learn because they’re essential to the game. Such as: Weather, how the graveyard and resurrecting works, spies, Reveal, Trio and much more. These are the ABCs of Gwent, the foundation on which your experience will rest. If it’s not sufficient, you will crash and burn like the Hindenburg.

Other than the necessity of it, it also guarantees you new leaders and a decent amount of Ore and Scrap that you can use for new cards. Even if you start a new account and know all the mechanics already, it is a must to play the Tutorial. So you might as well do it at the start of your journey!

5) Try to focus on one faction for the start

Even though building a multifaceted collection goes a lot quicker than in other CCGs, you will struggle for cards to fill your deck with at the start. So rather than trying to build three or four suboptimal decks for the same amount of factions, try to focus on one of them.

This doesn’t even have to limit your playstyle: Many Epics or Legendaries are used in different archetypes within the same faction! Cards that lock your opponents cards or create a card advantage for yourself will be welcomed in multiple decks, so even if you grow tired of playing Spies all day, you can still use a bunch of Nilfgaard cards for Reveal or Control Nilfgaard. All of this while slowly but steadily drafting cards for other factions as well!

6) Dust Duplicates with Animations & Different Artworks

Did you know that there quite a few cards in Gwent with different artworks, such as Nekkers, Wild Hunt Riders or Temerian Infantry? Well, I didn’t at the start and was rather confused when I drafted the same card eight times.

But even if you don’t deliberately draft them, there’s a good chance you’ll pack a few duplicated artworks along the way – perfect scrap material as long as you have three in total! Also, when you auto-scrap your cards, the system doesn’t calculate the cards that you might have four copies off, with one of the cards being animated. Double-checking your animated cards and whether you have an exceeding amount of the card in question will quickly result in a few dozen pieces of scrap, maybe even hundreds of them!

7) Try to get a friend to play with you

Games usually are very social experiences. Many of them are meant to play in pairs or groups even and Gwent is no different: It’s a game that is designed to be played against another human player. Therefore, you should try to find someone to talk to about the game, even motivate a friend of yours to start playing if necessary.

For starters, having someone to talk to about the game can be great to discuss the meta, changes to the game and strategies. But it can also be the perfect way to talk about great Keg pulls or vent about the third time you pulled your second Crones in the last round. Be it a friend that you regularly meet with in real life or talk to via Discord, having someone to talk to about the game will not only increase the fun you have with the game tenfold but will also alleviate your possible frustration.

8) Try to win at least 6 rounds a day

Gwent is, believe it or not, a very Free-to-Play-friendly game! Not only do you get loads of cards right off the bat, but after finishing the tutorials and playing your first games against other people, you’ll quickly learn that you’ll get at least an entire Keg’s worth of gold if you win six rounds a day.

This is a fantastic way to amass a sizeable collection early on, so I highly recommend login in at least once a day to get your free Keg once you’ve completed this quest. You can also count on getting additional awards along the way, as every two wins give you either an extra card, more gold, scraps or meteorite powder to craft with.

Gwent Thronebreaker will cost real money and will feature 20 cards for Multiplayer

Darius is an esports journalist trying to nurture esports culture whenever possible. He got into esports while finishing his Bachelor in Journalism, and has been a regular EU LCS attendee since January 2017.